October 7 survivor earns spot in national team
Binyamin was celebrating his 29th birthday at the Nova music festival, near kibbutz Re’im, where 364 people were killed.
(THE TIMES OF ISRAEL) Ben Binyamin was left for dead by Hamas terrorists when they stormed into Israel from Gaza on October 7.
Six months later, he is a key defender in the back four for Israel’s national amputee men’s football team, dreaming of competing in the Euro 2024 cup in France from June 1-8, and ultimately lifting the trophy.
The team has qualified for the 16-team tournament, and has been drawn in group C with Azerbaijan, Turkiye and Ireland.
Binyamin was celebrating his 29th birthday at the Nova music festival, near kibbutz Re’im, where 364 people were killed.
He lost his right leg when the attackers threw four grenades and shot into an air raid shelter, where he and his friends were taking cover.
His fiancee also lost a leg.
“I never thought I would play soccer again,” said the former professional player.
“I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to walk, never mind run.”
Yet here he was, bursting from midfield on his crutches, firing a stinging shot into the corner of the net from the edge of the box, during a training session on March 28, in Ramat Gan.
Binyamin does not like to dwell on the horror he went through during the October 7 attack, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel, killing about 1200 people, and taking 253 people hostage.
“You can’t imagine,” he said, adding he lost friends.
The body of one, Shani Louk, was paraded around Gaza after the bloodbath.
Two of his other teammates were soldiers who became amputees during the fighting in Gaza.
Now, this band of brothers have found striking resilience and a deep well of mutual support, driving Israel’s nascent amputee football squad to the European finals.
The man who recruited them from their hospital beds, Zach Shichrur, knows what they have been through.
“Your life is not over,” he told them as he recounted his own stirring story.
Shichrur’s foot was crushed when he was hit by a bus at the age of eight.
After enduring decades of severe pain and reconstructive surgery, the 35-year-old lawyer decided: “I might be better off without my foot. It was a tough decision, but the best I ever took. With prosthetics, not only can I do things that every normal person can do, I can also do things I never imagined I would be able to do, like surfing, kite surfing and snowboarding,” he told AFP.
Schichrur, the team’s founder and captain, has infused his teammates with the same unshakable optimism.
“It is the privilege of my life to support my friends – guys who woke up and didn’t know whether they would walk again.
“We show that not only can you go back to normal life, you can play soccer on one leg, and play for your country.”
The team is packed with talent, and share a strong bond.
Striker Ben Maman, 20, was one of Israel’s rising young stars until he lost his left leg when he was hit by a motorbike while working as a bicycle delivery rider to support his family during COVID.
Taking off his artificial leg before training – as the players are only allowed to play on crutches – he looked around the dressing room and said, “I love these guys.”
Like Binyamin, he lost his strongest leg, yet here he was putting on the national jersey he “dreamed of wearing when I was a kid”.
Gaza also has a fledgling amputee soccer team.
But even if the war ended tomorrow, Binyamin – who spent years “playing for Arab teams” in Israel – doesn’t see the chance of a friendly match anytime soon.
“Before October 7, I thought there could be peace … and I have a lot of Arab friends, even from Jenin, who ask after me,” he said.
But having witnessed what he did, he said, “I cannot believe there will be peace, because they only want our destruction. But we won’t leave here no matter what happens.”
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